Maty: There have always been exceptional people around the world. Matilde de Urrutia (Maty) was only 14 years old when in 1943 she opened her first shop employing five shoemakers. In its early days, the establishment was dedicated to stitching stockings and mending clothes and shoes. Everything changed when a lady came to the shop asking to repair her ballet shoes. She knew that in Spain it was impossible to find these shoes and of course she accepted the order. She took this opportunity and transformed her shop into the reference shop in Madrid for costumes and shoes for dancing. And she started to produce ballet shoes. The only mistake
Christmas Market in Madrid Plaza Mayor in Madrid is the epicenter of the Christmas atmosphere in the capital. The famous Christmas Market with its more than 100 red and colorful stalls attracts locals, national and foreign tourists. It is worth a visit both day and night; it is full of life almost 24 hours a day. Here you can buy everything from Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, nativity figurines, toys, amusement articles... to a four-leaf clover or mistletoe (according to legend, kissing under the branches of mistletoe brings luck in love and fertility). Christmas Market Madrid Already in the 17th century, fruit and vegetables, ornaments and gifts were sold next to

Bike Tours Madrid – We are back… …doing our bike tours respecting the guidelines and recommendations for our Tour Guides – developed by Spanish Tourism Quality Institute (ICTE): “Measures to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2” New rules for mask use in Spain came into effect on June 26. Spain continues to require the use of face masks in all indoor public spaces; however, masks are no longer required outdoors as long as 1.5 meters of social distancing can be maintained. Our tour guide will inform clients about applicable prevention and hygiene measures, and also about restrictions, limitations or modifications to the service to prevent contagion. The safe distance between the

5th of July, 2021: Mercado de San Miguel Re-Opens! With this nice welcome, the San Miguel market in Madrid reopens again, after being closed for 9 months due to the pandemic. The San Miguel market Madrid, located next to the Plaza Mayor, was inaugurated in May 1916 as a food market and is one of the few and best examples of iron architecture in the city. In 2009 it became the first gastronomic market in Madrid and today it is the city's gastronomic temple, with nationally and internationally renowned chefs. If you want to get to know it, sign up for one of our bike tours, such as the Highlights

La Violeta In contrast to this melancholic song by Prince, “La Violeta” has been sweetening the world with its purple sweets for more than 105 years. This shop is very near to our Trixi bike shop and as we write the blog we get to know more and more hidden corners of this vibrant city that is Madrid. We would like to share these discoveries with you. La Violeta is a family business that was established in 1915 La Violeta is a family business that was established in 1915 by the couple “Gil” and it is located in Plaza de Canalejas 6, in Madrid. Since then, the shop has kept

Happy Christmas in Madrid: Before the year ends we would like to share with you one of the most popular events in Spain that takes place just before Christmas: “El Gordo” (“the fat one”), the great Christmas lottery on the 22nd of December. What is so special about this lottery? It is time to celebrate, to share with friends and families, to hope and to take a rest from the hard year. For this reason people try their chance and want to participate. They either buy a full set of 10 lottery tickets for 200 € or just one for 20 €, called “a décimo”. The matter is to participate